Optimize Your Food & Beverage Quality / Food Safety Resume

Laurie Hyllberg

Laurie champions Kinsa Group’s position as the top food and beverage recruiting firm in the nation and its presence in the global FMCG marketplace. To her Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Business Management, and Marketing she adds over 20 years of executive search experience in the food and beverage industry at Kinsa. Building a network of executives and professionals through membership in the Women’s Foodservice Forum, Institute of Food Technologists, FaB Wisconsin, Chicagoland Food and Beverage Network, and maintaining professional expertise in recruiting as an Executive Board Member for the Recruiters Of Wisconsin association, Laurie is able to connect top talent in the food industry with food and beverage processors and foodservice providers growing their teams at the C-Suite, VP, Director, and Management level. Connect with Laurie today!

Wouldn’t you love to be able to read a recruiter’s mind – and know exactly what he wants to see on your food & beverage resume?

We have the information you need.

Today, Kinsa is starting a series of resume optimization posts, each dedicated to a specific professional job category within the food & beverage industry. Our recruiters have shared below what they and their clients look for in Food & Beverage Quality and Food Safety resumes:

From Robert Navarro:

• SQF [Safe Quality Food] accomplishments. If you have administered (or are maintaining) an SQF level 1, 2 or 3 certification, or if you have the SQF Practitioner certification, list these.
• Work environment details. Clarify whether you worked in a corporate or plant setting and (if applicable) the size and number of plants.
• Specialized experience. Detail your lab experience, nutritional labeling experience, supervisory experience and microbiology testing capabilities.

From Russell Lilly:

• Measurable accomplishments. Quantify and include things like documents created, processes developed and implemented, or cost savings achieved by catching products out of specification before shipment.
• Company and market description. For each employer, create a brief overview of the company, as well as their position within the market.

From Nancy Furgason:

• Keywords. If applicable, incorporate the following terms throughout your resume:
  • SPC [Statistical Process Control]
  • Pest control
  • HACCP [Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points]
  • FDA or USDA regulations
  • Compliance
  • GLPs [Good Laboratory Practices]
  • GMPs [Good Manufacturing Practices],
  • SOPs [Standard Operating Procedures]
  • Food Safety concepts and practices
  • Auditing (internal and external)
  • Supplier evaluation
  • Traceability [food origin] – inspection of incoming materials/ingredients and risk management protocol in place if a recall is necessary

• Demonstrate authority. Describe cases where you had to place a quality control hold on a product, or enforce a proper quality-related procedure with people other than your direct reports.
• Undergraduate and Master degrees. Clients typically look for Food Science, Food Technology, Biology, Chemistry and Microbiology degrees.

Looking for more executive food & beverage resume advice?

Check out these earlier posts from Kinsa:

• Create a Power Resume to Land the Executive Food & Beverage Job You Want
• Don’t Let These Résumé Grammar Mistakes Hold You Back
• How and Why to Update Your Résumé, Even if You’re Employed
• Get great food & beverage résumé writing tips and other résumé critique resources in Kinsa’s Career Edge Library